The Left Behind Collection: All 12 Books (140 page)

“What do you mean?”

“Ben-Judah belongs in Israel. And Carpathia has to ensure his safety, doesn’t he?”

“You heard Fortunato. They can cause an accident and wind up with sympathy.”

“But if he pledges a personal guarantee, Ray, he’ll keep Tsion safe.”

“Don’t forget what Tsion wants to do in Israel. He’s not just going to chat with the two witnesses or look up old friends. He’ll be training as many of the 144,000 evangelists as can get there. He’ll be Nicolae’s worst nightmare.”

“Like I said, what’s your price?”

“What’s the difference? You expect the Antichrist to stand by a deal? I wouldn’t give a nickel for Hattie Durham’s future, whether she toes the line or not. Maybe if I string this out long enough I can learn something from Fortunato about Amanda. I’m telling you, Mac, she’s alive somewhere.”

“If she’s alive, Ray, why no contact? I don’t want to offend you, but is it possible she’s what they say she is?”

Buck was awakened a little after midnight by the chirping of Chloe’s phone downstairs. Though she kept it within arm’s length, it kept ringing. Buck sat up, wondering. He decided her medication must have kicked in, so he hurried down.

Only people most crucial to the Tribulation Force knew the members’ private sat phone numbers. Every incoming call was potentially momentous. Buck couldn’t see the phone in the darkness, and he didn’t want to turn on the light. He followed the sound to the ledge above Chloe. He put a knee carefully on the mattress, trying not to wake her, grabbed the phone, and settled in a chair next to her bed.

“Chloe’s phone,” he whispered.

All he heard was crying. “Hattie?” he tried.

“Buck!” she said.

“Chloe slept through the ring, Hattie. I hate to wake her.”

“Please don’t,” she said through sobs. “I’m sorry to call so late.”

“She really wanted to talk to you, Hattie. Is there anything I can do?”

“Oh, Buck!” she said, and lost control again.

“Hattie, I know you don’t know where we are, but it’s not close enough to help if you’re in danger. Do you need me to call someone?”

“No!”

“Don’t rush, then. I can wait. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Thank you,” she managed.

As Buck waited, his eyes grew accustomed to the darkness. For the first time since she had been home, Chloe was not on her left side, keeping weight off the myriad breaks, bruises, strains, sprains, and scrapes of her other side. Every morning she spent half an hour massaging sleeping body parts. He prayed that someday soon she would enjoy a restful night’s sleep. Maybe she was doing that now. But could one really enjoy a sleep so deep that a ringing phone a few feet away would not penetrate? He hoped her body would benefit, and her spirit as well. Chloe lay still, flat on her back, her left arm by her side, her mangled right foot pigeon-toed to the left, her casted arm resting on her stomach.

“Bear with me,” Hattie managed.

“No rush,” Buck said, scratching his head and stretching. He was struck by Chloe in repose. What a gift of God she was, and how grateful he was that she had survived. Her top sheet and blanket were bunched. She often fell asleep uncovered and curled under blankets later.

Buck pressed the back of his hand to her cheek. She felt cool. Still listening for Hattie, Buck pulled the sheet and blanket up to Chloe’s neck, worrying that he might have dragged it across her foot, her most sensitive injury. But she did not move.

“Hattie, are you there?”

“Buck, I got word tonight that I lost my mother and my sisters in the earthquake.”

“Oh, Hattie, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s such a waste,” she said. “When L.A. and San Francisco were bombed, Nicolae and I were still close. He warned me they should leave the area and swore me to secrecy. His intelligence people feared a militia attack, and he was right.”

Buck said nothing. Rayford had told him he had heard Carpathia himself, through the Condor 216’s bugging device, give the order for the bombing of San Francisco and Los Angeles.

“Hattie, where are you calling from?”

“I told you in the e-mail,” she said.

“I know, but you’re not using their phones, are you?”

“No! That’s why I’m calling so late. I had to wait until I could sneak outside.”

“And the news about your family. How did that get to you?”

“I had to let the authorities in Santa Monica know where they could reach me. I gave them my private number and the number of the clinic here.”

“I’m sorry to say this at such a difficult time for you, Hattie, but that was not a good idea.”

“I didn’t have a choice. It took a long time to get through to Santa Monica, and when I finally did, my family was unaccounted for. I had to leave numbers. I’ve been worried sick.”

“You’ve probably led the GC right to you.”

“I don’t care anymore.”

“Don’t say that.”

“I don’t want to go back to Nicolae, but I want him to take responsibility for our child. I have no job, no income, and now no family.”

“We care about you and love you, Hattie. Don’t forget that.”

She broke down again.

“Hattie, have you considered that the news about your family may be untrue?”

“What?”

“I wouldn’t put it past the GC. Once they knew where you were, they may have just wanted to give you a reason to stay there. If you think your family is gone, there’s no reason for you to go to California.”

“But I told Nicolae my family had moved here after the bombings out there.”

“It wouldn’t have taken him long to discover that was untrue.”

“Why would he want me to stay here?”

“Maybe he assumes that the longer you’re there, the more likely you are to have an abortion.”

“That’s true.”

“Don’t say that.”

“I don’t see any options, Buck. I can’t raise a child in a world like this with my prospects.”

“I don’t want to make you feel worse, Hattie, but I don’t think you’re safe there.”

“What are you saying?”

Buck wished Chloe would rouse and help him talk to Hattie. He had an idea, but he’d rather consult her first.

“Hattie, I know these people. They would much rather have you out of the picture than deal with you.”

“I’m nobody from nowhere. I can’t hurt him.”

“Something happening to you could engender tremendous sympathy for him. More than anything, he wants attention, and he doesn’t care whether that comes as fear, respect, admiration, or pity.”

“I’ll tell you one thing, I’ll have an abortion before I’ll let him hurt me or my child.”

“You’re not making sense. You would kill your child so he can’t?”

“You sound like Rayford now.”

“We happen to agree on this,” Buck said. “Please don’t do that. At the very least get somewhere where you’re not in danger and can think this through.”

“I have nowhere to go!”

“If I came and got you, would you come here with us?”

Silence.

“Chloe needs you. We could use help with her. And she could be good for you during your pregnancy. She’s pregnant too.”

“Really? Oh, Buck, I couldn’t burden you. I’d feel so obliged, so in the way.”

“Hey, this was my idea.”

“I don’t see how it would work.”

“Hattie, tell me where you are. I’ll come and get you by noon tomorrow.”

“You mean noon today?”

Buck looked at the clock. “I guess I do.”

“Shouldn’t you run this by Chloe?”

“I don’t dare bother her. If there’s a problem, I’ll get back to you. Otherwise, be ready to go.”

No response.

“Hattie?”

“I’m still here, Buck. I was just thinking. Remember when we met?”

“Of course. It was a rather momentous day.”

“On Rayford’s 747 the night of the disappearances.”

“The Rapture,” Buck said.

“If you say so. Look what we’ve been through since then.”

“I’ll call you when we’re within an hour of you,” Buck said.

“I’ll never be able to repay you.”

“Who said anything about that?”

Buck put the phone away, straightened Chloe’s covers, and knelt to kiss her. She still seemed cold. He went to get her a blanket but stopped midstride. Was she too still? Was she breathing? He rushed back and put his ear to her nose. He couldn’t tell. He ran his thumb and forefinger under her jaw to check her pulse. Before he could detect anything, she pulled away. She was alive. He slipped to his knees. “Thank you, God!”

Chloe mumbled something. He took her hand in both of his. “What, sweetie? What do you need?”

She appeared to be trying to open her eyes. “Buck?” she said.

“It’s me.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I just got off the phone with Hattie. Go back to sleep.”

“I’m cold.”

“I’ll get you a blanket.”

“I wanted to talk to Hattie. What did she say?”

“I’ll tell you tomorrow.”

“Mm-hm.”

Buck found a coverlet and spread it over her. “OK?” he said.

She did not respond. When he began to tiptoe away, she said something. He turned back. “What, hon?”

“Hattie.”

“In the morning,” he said.

“Hattie has my bunny.”

Buck smiled. “Your bunny?”

“My blanket.”

“OK.”

“Thanks for my blanket.”

Buck wondered if she would remember any of this.

Mac was in the cockpit and Rayford asleep in his quarters when his personal phone rang. It was Buck.

Rayford sat up. “What time is it where you are?”

“If I tell you that, anyone listening will know what time zone I’m in.”

“Donny assured us these phones were secure.”

“That was last month,” Buck said. “These phones are almost obsolete already.”

They filled in each other on the latest. “You’re right about getting Hattie away from there. After what I told you Leon said, don’t you agree she’s in danger?”

“No question,” Buck said.

“And is Tsion willing to go to Israel?”

“Willing? I have to sit on him to keep him from starting to walk there now. He’s going to be suspicious, though, if the big man wants to take credit for getting him there.”

“I don’t see how he could go otherwise, Buck. His life would be worthless.”

“He takes comfort in the prophecies that he and the rest of the 144,000 witnesses are sealed and protected, at least for now. He feels he could walk into the enemy’s lair and come out unharmed.”

“He’s the expert.”

“I want to go with him. Being in the same country as the two witnesses at the Wailing Wall would make this soul harvest he’s been predicting just explode.”

“Buck, have you checked in with headquarters? All I hear from the top is that you’re on dangerous ground. You have no secrets anymore.”

“Funny you should ask. I just transmitted a long message to the big boss.”

“Is it going to do you any good?”

“You seem to have survived by being straightforward, Rayford. I’m doing the same. I told them I’ve been too busy rescuing friends and burying others to worry about my publication. Besides, 90 percent of the staff is gone and virtually all the production capabilities. I’m proposing continuing the magazine online until Carpathia decides whether to rebuild printing plants and all that.”

“Ingenious.”

“Yeah, well, the fact is there might be two simultaneous magazines coming out on the Internet at the same time, if you know what I mean.”

“There are already dozens.”

“I mean there might be two coming out simultaneously, edited by the same guy.”

“But only one of them financed and sanctioned by the king of the world?”

“Right. The other wouldn’t be funded at all. It would tell the truth. And no one would know where it’s coming from.”

“I like your mind, Buck. I’m glad you’re part of my family.”

“It hasn’t been dull, I can say that.”

“So what should I tell Leon I’ll do about Hattie and Tsion?”

“Tell him you’ll get the message to the lady. As for Tsion, negotiate whatever you want and we’ll get him to Israel inside a month.”

“You think there’s that kind of patience in the East?”

“It’s important to stretch it out. Make it a huge event. Keep control of the timing. That’ll drive Tsion crazy too, but it will give us time to rally everyone on the Internet so they can show up.”

“Like I said, I like your mind. You ought to be a magazine publisher.”

“Before long we’ll all be just fugitives.”

Buck was right. In the morning Chloe recalled nothing from the night before. “I woke up toasty and knew somebody had brought me a blanket,” she said. “It doesn’t surprise me it was one of the guys upstairs.”

She grabbed her phone and used a cane to get to the table. She punched the buttons with her bloated right hand. “I’m going to call her right now,” she said. “I’m going to tell her I can’t wait to have some female companionship around here.”

Chloe sat with the phone to her ear for several moments.

“No answer?” Buck said. “You’d better hang up, hon. If she’s where she can’t talk, she probably turned it off at the first ring. You can try her later, but don’t jeopardize her.”

A chortle came from Tsion upstairs. “You two are not going to believe this!” he hollered, and Buck heard his footsteps overhead. Chloe closed her phone and looked up expectantly.